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It wasn't just any ordinary practice on Saturday as the New Orleans Saints got out in the intense heat for the annual Black and Gold Scrimmage. Let me just tell you that "intense" is an understatement.
An estimated 3,000 fans were on hand in the blistering sun to watch their Super Bowl champions out on the field in what turned into a pretty competitive event.

Coach Sean Payton had the four quarterbacks working out with different units and players. First string defensive players were mixed in with those from the second string. Situational series were mixed in with two-minute drills and length of the field runs.

Only seven players were not taking part in the scrimmage due to injury and here is your list: Darren Sharper, Robert Meachem, Clint Ingram Scott Shanle, Patrick Robinson, Tyler Lorenzen, and Rod Harper.
No-one really different than the past couple of days except for Harper who hurt his hip in Friday afternoon's practice. Luckily it appeared as if the end of the day brought no new injuries as well.

Here are your random observations from the Black and Gold Scrimmage:
Garrett Hartley started things off with some field goal attempts with his first holder, Thomas Morstead. Hartley made good from 33 and 41 yards but missed wide right on a 36-yarder. Chase Daniel was the second holder and Hartley again made good from 33 and 41 yards but again missed right right on the 36-yard attempt.

Morstead then went out to give the opening kickoff and in a crowd-pleasing move, attempted an onside kick which was recovered by the Saints (kick-off team). The crowd went nuts for this and afterward, Coach Payton said that was the way "ambush" works, just like in the Super Bowl.

The opening drive of the scrimmage saw the offensive unit just march down the field on a defensive unit mixing first and second stringers. Drew Brees completed 4 of 4 passes for 64 yards. Reggie Bush then ran it in for the score from six yards out which caused the crowd to break out a huge "REG-GIE" chant.

Offensive Play of the Day: On the opening drive, Brees saw Marques Colston streaking down the left sideline. He put the ball up and right over defender Leigh Torrence who just watched it sail perfectly into Colston's hands for a 40-yard reception.

The second drive didn't go as well as the defense stepped it up. All Brees and the offense could muster was a loss of one yard, two incompletion passes, and a false start by Jeremy Shockey.

Our third series saw the defense persevere yet again. Patrick Ramsey was in charge of the offense now and looked to keep going toward wide receiver Montez Billings, but Jabari Greer was all over him.

Defensive Play of the Day: Shockey caught an out pass from Ramsey only to have the ball stripped away from him by Jonathan Vilma. Jimmy Wilkerson recovered the loose ball and ran it in for a touchdown.

Running back P.J. Hill had some very good runs today. He ran very strong into the line and even got outside a few times for some good gains.
Chase Daniel had a few issues with overthrowing his receivers when he was in there. Andy Tanner did make a nice diving catch near the sideline at one point, but it was on another poorly thrown ball by Daniel.

Brees came back out for another set of downs and the defense stepped it up even more. Pierre Thomas was stopped for no gain on first down. Lance Moore dropped a short pass. Brees threw incomplete to Devery Henderson. And then fourth down saw Roman Harper knock the ball away from tight end David Thomas.

Ramsey did get back in and had a very good play on a dump off to Pierre Thomas on the outside. Ramsey floated the ball up and over Will Smith for the completion as Thomas gained good yardage.
Morstead practiced a few punts and ended up booting a pair of 60-yarders.
When rookie Sean Canfield did get out there to do some work, it wasn't the most impressive showing. The defense had a lot to do with that too though. Canfield did complete a pass to Jimmy Graham for 13 yards but then ended up overthrowing Tory Humphrey on fourth down.

The Saints let the first stringers back out for the two-minute drills which continued with the defensive show pieces. Jabari Greer broke up a Brees' pass on third down intended for Lance Moore in the end zone. And then on fourth down, both Will Smith and Bobby McCray converged at Brees for the sack.

Ramsey got some work in the two-minute offense as well but didn't come out much better. His first set saw a drop by Graham, overthrow to Courtney Roby, and then a drop by Montez Billings. The final set saw a 30-yard pass to the end zone dropped by Billings again. Then Leigh Torrence got into the backfield for a sack to end the day.

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